Vallejo's Cooke property to be developed?

After decades as possibly the largest piece of undeveloped property in Vallejo, the acreage at Admiral Callaghan Lane and Turner Parkway will become a mixed-use community of commercial and housing, if a well-known development firm has its way.

Irvine-based SunCal entered into contract on the nearly 52-acre site a few months ago, Planning Manager Andrea Ouse said. This doesn't obligate company officials to close on the deal, but gives them the option to buy it, if they and city officials can reach a meeting of the minds on the concept.

"Typically, this allows the buyers to go through the development process before actually taking title," Ouse said. "It provides an escape hatch."

SunCal's was the only serious inquiry made on the property since it went on the market last year, though several calls came in about it, she said.

The property was owned for more than 30 years by Vallejo native Melvin Cooke, and by his family for many more before that, until Cooke died at age 85 in Napa County last November. The property was put up for sale just before he died.

He'd lived in Calistoga for more than 70 years. The land was a decades-long source of problems and frustration for Cooke , the city and the neighbors whose homes abut the property, which attracted homeless encampments, illegal dumping and loud, dust-producing, off-road vehicles. The site is also often lined with day laborers seeking work. Two years ago, a homeless woman, Johanna Dilag, was found dead there of malnutrition-related heart problems, along with her dog. Decades of litigation between Cooke and Vallejo City Hall resulted in the city erecting a four-foot, three-wire fence around most of the property two years ago, that sources have said has helped significantly. SunCal submitted a concept to the city – to get a feel for what the reaction might be – before going completely public with their proposal, Ouise said.

"There's been no application, no fees paid, no notice to start an Environmental Impact Review," she said. "They wanted an early reaction from the city on the concept."

That concept calls for commercial space along Admiral Callaghan Lane and residential on the remainder of the property, Ouse said. City officials contracted with two of their regular consulting firms to go over the plan and, basically, the city would rather see more commercial and less residential than the SunCal concept calls for, she said.

That was some two months ago, and the city has not heard anything from SunCal since, though this is not necessarily a bad sign, Ouise said.

"I don't know why we haven't heard from them, but it's not unusual," she said. "Maybe they're reworking the concept."

In fact, a company spokesman said Friday the firm is still on board.

"We will continue to work with city officials and the community to produce the best possible development for the City of Vallejo," company spokesman Joe Aguirre said in an email. "Beyond expressing that we remain very interested in this property, we cannot comment further at this time."

According to its website, the 80-year-old company is "one of the largest real estate development companies in the United States that specializes in large-scale, mixed use, master-planned communities."

The firm makes sure its developments include plenty of open space, and it is ecologically sensitive, it says.

"Parks and schools are right around the corner, and tree-lined streets lead you home," according to its marketing material. "It's the kind of place where families put down roots and pride runs deep. It's the true embodiment of community."

SunCal's developments include communities in Fullerton, Lincoln Crossing and Oxnard in California, and in Prince William County, Virginia.

"We carefully plan each of our communities to protect biologically sensitive locations in order to preserve natural features and open space," the firm's webiste says. "This commitment to the environment has allowed for the preservation of thousands of acres of ridgelines, wetlands, oak woodlands and natural habitats within our communities. These lands are home to many of Earth's most spectacular creatures, provide wildlife corridors allowing animals access to significant habitat areas, and are crisscrossed with miles of trails for public use."